Fates Become Intertwined
by C. O. Rosette
Summary: Multifandom X-over with six main fandoms. Separate universes are divulging. Dangers leak from one to the next. As a highly intelligent race of genetically enhanced eeveelutions now evolved into incubators struggle for more ways to use a clean energy source so that the Lord of Time will never destroy reality, the Doctor, a godlike being, and Starfleet fight for their multiverse.
1. Chapter 1

If there was ever a dark horse of the multiverse, it would have to be one twenty-three-year-old, female human, Rose Tyler. That is at least the name by most who knew her originally called her. There are more than a handful of names one could address her as currently. When she first started out as only Rose Tyler, there were not many who did know her. That was all before her life changed drastically. That was before she met the Doctor.

If someone wanted to know of the frivolous scavenger hunts and adventures Rose had with the Doctor, they could just ask the Doctor himself. Either that, or they could consult most anyone else since most others will know the gist of the story that is the Bad Wolf's misadventures. Although her heroic tragedy of how she saved two universes twice in a row at the same time is commonly known, most will not know the ending. All great epics must start somewhere, and that somewhere always traces straight back to the Doctor. The poor Doctor, not in any of his past or present incarnations will ever be able to tell the ending. There are two reasons for this unexpected loss for words from one of the most heroic figures from any universe.

One reason is just because it is far too sad to remember the day (or days) he and his beloved Rose were separated. Rose was the first travelling companion the Doctor ever picked up after the grievance that was the ultimate Time War that left him bitter and traumatized. She helped him learn to love and show compassion again and soon his feelings for her became very tender. She was the first person the Doctor had loved in a very long time, and a mere human, to boot.

Unfortunately, after opening up a parallel universe that was never meant to be opened up, the Doctor, Rose, and their friends have the chance to save it's parallel Earth from certain doom. But at the last minute, in an attempt to quickly seal the exposure between both universes, Rose and her family were trapped on the other side. They were heartbroken to know that the Doctor would never be able to reach them.

That is, until the resealing was exposed again by the daleks and the Doctor was unknowingly put in grave danger. Rose travelled back to her original universe in order to help him and soon they were all able to defeat the daleks and the close the rift again. Through this process, the Doctor was somehow able to postpone his regeneration by creating copy of himself. But, of course, in the end there can only be one Doctor and that copy was eventually transformed from a timelord clone to a regular homo sapien.

This time when Rose went back to her universe, human Doctor went with her. This way, the Doctor would always be with her. They needed each other and Rose would show him all of the ropes of being a human being. Meanwhile, timelord Doctor left them behind, knowing that even if he had her in a way, he never could truly have her.

The other reason the Doctor is unable to tell how Rose's story ends is because it hasn't yet. Even if it had, no one would know if or how. Yet many do ponder the question of whatever happened to Rose Tyler (or Rose Lalonde as she would soon be named) after her last encounter with the Doctor. That question will finally be answered. This is the tale of the life of post-scratch Rose Lalonde.

After the Doctor left them to their own devices, the Tyler family retreats back to their mansion in London with human Doctor and, as expected, Rose and human Doctor get together. Rose's father continues on his corporate business venture, extending the family's wealth for years and years to come. Rose herself takes up an interest in the writing of novels. All is well for a while except for this one hobby human Doctor has that Rose finds to be quite peculiar.

The two spend quite a lot of time together, which is welcomed for two people that are so in love, but at least once every week in the evening, human Doctor retires to their basement ectobiology lab. The idea to develop the basement into a lab came from the agreement of whether or not there will ever be the slightest possibility of the two somehow producing offspring, then they would inherit the lab and hopefully take up an interest in ectobiology the way they'd planned. But for now it remains empty aside from human Doctor's weekly visits there to work on building a rather odd-looking as well as maybe even obscenely creepy ventriloquist dummy.

The very first time Rose saw the thing she felt as if it were watching her. It has a grey cap under which it wears backwards. It's head is shaped like a fat pear and it is the color of very pale, polished wood. It looks as if one could touch it's sleek face and be easily able to slip down across it's diameter. But it's the lifeless expression in it's eyes that unnerves Rose the most. It's eyelashes are made up of the hairs on a black broom and wired tightly to each eyeball. The eyeballs are a smooth plastic, giving them the gleam of whatever light touches them off. They are painted white with blue irises and finally shining, beady pupils. Although it is truly a dead look in the eyes and Rose knows it can't truly be staring, they still give off the notion that they see all and everything that goes on around them in a way that makes the thing seem almost…sentient.

On each of it's cheeks sits a bright red circle resembling clown makeup. Even more in line with the makeup motif is the red lipstick that clearly encircles the mouth paint and indicates where the jaw is. The lips are made to look parted into a creepy grin that makes Rose's skin crawl, revealing that it sports a golden tooth. It wears a gold, bling necklace atop an oversized, blue T-shirt that says in white, capital letters, "CAL." Underneath the shirt, what looks like the top part of a brown tuxedo peaks out, bowtie and all, the wooden buttons trailing off under the shirt. The thing's long arms and legs are comprised of tan, splintery wood and knock together limply when human Doctor attempts to make it look as if they are walking. Puffy, white mittens cover the end of each arm and the feet hold white sneakers with red markings.

When Rose asked human Doctor why he works so hard on this pointless puppet, he just assured her that it isn't as pointless as it seems and that she'll understand when the time comes. All other questions regarding the subject are also brushed aside. Whenever she asks him why it's shirt says CAL, he says that's his name, but he never tells her why when she asks. Rose knows there than meets the eye. With the Doctor, there always is, and even when he is a human and can no longer regenerate, he still retains the memories and knowledge he had as a timelord and is still the sketchy Doctor he always was. Since they are a couple now, Rose wishes he would open up to her if there is still something going on, but because there seems there is nothing she can do at the moment, the project goes on to be forgotten after a while.

One part of being comfortably truthful with one another as a couple includes being able to call each other by their names. It is intricate in a relationship that they know each other's names. Rose can't just call human Doctor Doctor forever, especially since he isn't even the real Doctor. So one day, Rose asks human Doctor for his real name, the name given to him at his very beginning. The name he has been so desperately running from for millennia. She asks him to tell her because he should surely trust her and her family enough by now. Finally, human Doctor decides that the time has come for the unspeakable name to be revealed. After all, he is no longer the real Doctor. That weight has been removed- albeit temporarily- from his shoulders.

So one day, he decides to confide in Rose his real name. She waits patiently until the universe-shaking words are uttered from his mouth. Rose's first reaction is to laugh. The universe-saving Doctor's most feared name is Caliborn? She then realizes the connection to the words on the shirt of the dummy. Nonetheless, she is very grateful to actually know her lover's name after all the years of ignorance. After his first name is cleared up, Rose decides he needs a last name to be fully integrated into the human race. They brainstorm a few names. The first idea Caliborn suggests is Lewis. Rose doesn't think a common British surname would flow well with a first name like Caliborn. They think hard for more names, passing around the ideas of Lewlin, Smond, and Lawos as rough ideas. Rose even picks some names derived from the ones in her novels. They finally come to the conclusion that French names have a good flow with everything. Human Doctor decides he likes the French word for the constellation Ursa Major, Lalande. Rose wants something more original, making the final outcome Lalonde, Caliborn Lalonde.

A few months pass without much change. After Lil' Cal is finished, Caliborn spend as much time on him as he used to, though he definitely isn't forgotten. He still refuses to tell Rose what role the dummy will ultimately play in the fate of the multiverse.

One day, Rose comes home from her work at her father's corporation where both she and Caliborn make a living at different times to find that he isn't home. After searching around the house more than once and finding nothing but Cal's dead eyes staring her down in the basement, she suddenly feels her cell phone vibrate. She looks at the caller ID to see that it's Caliborn. Bewildered at where he could be at a time like this, she takes the call. A joyful smile creeps across her face and tears well in her eyes as she listens to Caliborn's explanation and instructions of the situation.

In the evening light, when everyone has left the community park, Rose meets Caliborn out in the field as the sun just begins to disappear beneath the horizon. The first crickets of the night chirp in correspondence as the couple casts it's silhouette against the shimmering, orange water in the evening light. It all seems just like a dream to Rose, romanticized just like one of her novels as Caliborn gets down on one knee and presents to her a piece of jewelry she has never seen before in all her years of living. The small ring contains a swirling golden and blue helix within the alien jewel. Caliborn still had a small part of the TARDIS with him which he used to fuel the fire inside of the ring. As fate would have it, Caliborn and Rose are married not long after, successfully turning Rose Tyler into Rose Lalonde. For years after, they remain happily married and carrying out there lives' duties.

That all changes one fateful day when Caliborn and Rose take a midnight stroll through the same park in which they were engaged. Fireflies light the air like floating, glowing snow. The park is otherwise immersed in darkness, the only light emanating from far off in the city. Suddenly the sky lights up the dark in an explosion of bursting colors gliding past the stars. Rose grabs Caliborn's arm and uses it to point up at the brilliant comet shooting brightly across the night sky…and heading straight towards them. The couple stares on in wondrous horror as the comet gets bigger and bigger and they begin to feel the heat emanating off it. It almost looks like the sun fell out of the sky.

Finally it encompasses the whole sky, the grooves and craters formed by smaller meteors crashing into it in plain sight. The night suddenly becomes colder as the meteor blocks out the sun completely. It seems the flying, space rock is heading right for the couple, but just as it is about to hit them, it disappears behind a hill right in front of them. A few seconds later, the couple hears a literally earth-shaking crash. Caliborn and Rose watch in wonder as the impact levels all trees and small buildings surrounding the sight and they are thrown off their feet and on top of each other as it brings on a small earthquake.

After the earthquake subsides, the couple gets up and brushes each other off affectionately. They immediately decide to investigate the meteor crash. The night is warm and humid again as the huge boulder is no longer in the sky. As Caliborn and Rose walk up the hill, they see through the darkness that nearly every single tree in the park has been either split in half or knocked to the ground from the brute force of the meteor. The hundred-thousands of windows over in the city have lit up from the spontaneous noise and chaos caused by the crash.

As Caliborn and Rose, hand in hand, reach the top of the hill, they fancy themselves on a rather peculiar sight. Down in the small valley crevice below the hill, the meteor has managed to smash itself into billions of pieces of metamorphic mineral against the Earth's crust. The meteor itself also did quite a number on the east side of London's central park. The grass on half of the main golfing lawn covering almost a quarter of the surface of the park has all been uprooted. Now nothing but loose, brown soil covers the destroyed lawns and the concrete paths around them. The heart and core of the actual crash goes down about four-hundred meters into the ground, smashing through underground pipes and narrowly missing the sewer line.

But the most intriguing as well as shocking part is the illusion that the meteor birthed a child, for sitting amongst the wreckage and atop what little is left of the remaining rock is what looks exactly like a small, blonde infant, diapered and perfectly unharmed. In short, she looks exactly like Rose's mother if she were an infant. Rose feels an instant connection. The city is lit up from every window in appearance as the couple looks around them. They begin to hear the curious and frightened whispers of the police and the citizens wandering into the park to see the result of all the ruckus. Flashlights appear overhead and draw nearer as time passes and the whispers become increasingly louder.

Without thinking, Rose dashes down into the meteor pit, soil slipping down as she climbs off of the now rugged terrain, causing even more erosions and collapse of whatever is left of the remaining few patches of grass. She slides through the dirt over to the small child and grabs her, wrapping her arms around her before climbing back up to Caliborn. The two make their getaway quickly before the civilians catch them.

Back at home in the lab the next morning, Rose and Caliborn run a few tests to see where the baby comes from and what she was doing on a small asteroid. After verifying his standpoint in genealogy, Caliborn confirms that the baby is indeed Rose's genetic mother. Dumbfounded by this shocking discovery, Rose immediately goes to her parents to break the news. She tells them about what happened in the park when they first spotted the meteor, and then onto the crash and finally, when they found young Jackie Tyler fresh at the sight of the crash, completely unharmed. She reminds them about the tests run by Caliborn that confirmed that Jackie and the baby are the same person.

At this stunning revelation, both Rose's parents hold surprised expressions, but they are not as shocked as Rose initially thought they would be. Something tells her that they were anticipating if not expecting an occurrence like this. Something tells her that there's a lot more to this. When she demands them an explanation of what they have been hiding from her after years with the Doctors, corrupt universes, and sci-fiish trips to the ends of space and time, they sit her down and clarify how this is not a first-time occurrence.

Rose's mother tells her that when she was her age in their original universe with her original father, she and him were taking a walk as newlyweds. They too saw a meteor collide with the Earth's crust that very same night. When they went to the scene of the crash, they also found a child right in the middle of the wreckage. That child happened to be none other than young Rose.

At this news, Rose is even more baffled as to what to do with her newfound mother-child. The simple answer is, as Jackie suggests it, keep her. Ignoring the initial weirdness along with the fact that she'll be caring for her own mother all over again, that is what Caliborn and Rose were going to do anyway. So that is what they do, and declaring that despite the fact that Jackie and the baby are essentially the same person, Rose declares that they are still two separate beings and opts to name the baby something different from her mother's. She wants something casual like the name Jackie, but not one that will sound lazy. Thus, the child's title comes to be Roxy, Roxy Lalonde.

But that is not the end of all the genealogical confusion. Later, after the shock settles sound, Jackie informs Rose that not only is she the daughter of her own adoptive daughter, but she also has a biological brother who lives in the U.S. To confirm this, Caliborn searches the bloodlines of the American population until he is able to find her brother. Rose's brother just so happens to be none other than the big shot Hollywood-movie-producer Dave Strider. Rose would be shocked by this stunning revelation if there were any room in her to be shocked by stunning revelations anymore. Caliborn notes that they have always looked like they could be related. They have the same blond hair and masked complexion.

Rose decides she should get in touch with her Texan, Hollywood star brother and inform him of all the insanity that happened with their family. She is able to call him just as he signed a contract for the Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff sequel to come out next fall. When he hears the news of the meteor crash, he heads right over. When he arrives, he holds a baby of his own, one that looks exactly like himself, but with spikier hair and ironic anime shades. He tells Rose and her family that he also found his baby in a rock fallen from space. He also tells her that he is their father, just as Roxy is their mother and his name is Dirk, Dirk Strider. From then on, the Lalonde-Strider-Tyler family is able to bask in the warm glow of finally, after years of losing each other, messing with the timey-wimey ball, and producing blockbusters to drown out their sorrows, being a complete family. Rose is able to receive a few extra bucks from a trust fund set up by her brother, earning her strictly one eighth of the money made by each big-budget film he puts out. Dave is able to make amends with the family he never knew he had before and they enjoyed his ironic output on the many adventures they had with the Doctor.

Life is good for a while after that. But it all falls to feces when Roxy and Dirk are about six. Rose and the rest of her family have now moved from Ireland to Rainbow Falls, New York in the States to be closer to the Striders in their ironic but luxurious, Hollywood mansion in Texas. Rose's novels- which she extended into a series- continue to make a killing, as do Dave's movies. Dave introduces the family to many of his big-shot friends, included but not limited to Ben Stiller. That is probably part of the reason it hits them so hard when the aliens invade the planet. Though the Tyler's have seen plenty of aliens and supernatural as well as other-worldly powers during their travels with the Doctor, they thought all that was put behind them a long time ago when they came to live in this new, peaceful universe. However the tone was when it happens, it's shocking nonetheless.

It comes right out of nowhere. No one would have suspected Betty Crocker to be anything more than a harmless baked-goods corporation. No one would have known it is connected to one of the most violent, malicious races in the multiverse, the trolls. There is only one troll left since the rest were all wiped out. The one left is the tyrannical Imperious Condescension, owner of Crockercorp, looking for more of the galaxy to conquer so she can settle and repopulate her species. She and her drones quickly swarm the planet and take over all native species as her slaves.

The Lalonde-Strider-Tyler family's lives collapse around them while they can do nothing but watch. Being the rebel that she is, Rose decides she will fight for the world as she did so many times before. Being the knight of media that he is, Dave decides to join her as killings of hundreds millions of people by the drones across the globe. The two start a resistance against the Condesce after she elects the Insane Clown Posse to be the presidents of the United States (but only figureheads). Soon the rest of their family joins the resistance as well. Their small rebel force eventually builds up until it becomes an underground organization almost as big as Crockercorp itself, enticing nearly half of what is still left of the country. But even with that amount of backup as well as spirit, the human race is no match for the physically invincible crockerdrones and they are eventually wiped out.

The Lalonde-Strider siblings know they must take a stand against this tyrant regardless of whether or not they will fail. Dave takes it upon himself to personally deliver the decapitating blow to the annoying pair of clowns that the Condesce is so much of a fangirl over.

Next, Rose and Dave plan to take on the empress herself together as a last act of defiance. But there is one last job to perform before they send themselves to their inevitable demises. They both know that Roxy and Dirk will never survive without them at this age with so few people left in the world, especially in a world run by emotionless robots hell-bent on converting humans into genetically altered pseudo-trolls to become no more than mere slaves. They need to send them somewhere safe, but where? There are drones everywhere and Caliborn doesn't have the TARDIS anymore. He does, however, have a bit of the timey wimey ball in his old sonic screwdriver. Without much use for the past few decades, the screwdriver had time to charge up. It's still enough to send them millennia into the, long after humanity has gone extinct. It will be nearly impossible for them to be found buried deep in the ruins of their old homes.

Another message must be sent out before Rose and Dave face the batterwitch, and that message is a warning. Caliborn finally reveals to Rose and Dave what he plans to do with Lil Cal. The dummy is a case for his soul. He was predicting an event like this would happen since day one but refrained from telling as it would interfere with a fixed timeline. Now, he tells them, is the time to transfer him across the universe. He and Cal will go on a voyage. What the voyage will contain Caliborn is uncertain of, but it will contain a very complicated chain of events he is sure. He will travel within the puppet through different points of time and space, maybe in hopes of meeting up with the original Doctor again to warn him of the invasive species called the trolls.

Off goes Caliborn Lalonde in his shield of a small, wooden, painted person into the abyss with the last of the sonic screwdriver's polarity-reversing energy as well. After he is gone, the siblings know what they must now do. Betty Crocker's capital has been located in Maple Valley Washington on what once was a peaceful, suburban neighborhood. Dave, with his sword, and Rose, with her knitting needles, confront the witch, the two of them against her.

Despite each of them putting up their best efforts, they are still defeated by the fuschia, sea troll and humanity is doomed to extinction, just as they expected. Their endeavors were not in vain, though. Roxy and Dirk are safe in the far future and that was all that mattered to them. But the batterwitch knows of their plans. She knows very well exactly where they hid the children. Still, she won't kill them. She has bigger plans for the last-living people on Earth and she intends to put them through to their full extent…


	2. Chapter 2

A clear but nondescript illusion of dawn paints the background of one particular bubble. No one is sure whose memory it is, as no one has any recollection of seeing this setting anytime before. It's almost as if there was a brief catastrophe that left them all blinded with amnesia. The scenery diverges into top-and-bottom halves, the top being a faded, watercolor magenta while the bottom slowly dissolves into a translucent, midnight. Blinking dots of stars sprinkle the magenta, each lighting in serene alternation much like a million sparkly fireflies.

Tavros, Sollux, Nepeta, and Feferi all trek exhaustedly through the quiet expanse. It truly is a beautiful sight to behold, though only through the eyes of inexperienced Sgrub players. Alas, the four trolls take no interest in their surroundings, practically being dream bubble nomads by this point. They've seen far more fascinating things in countless other bubbles and are frankly exhausted of all of it so to speak. Not once in the waking world had any of them believed being dead could be so tiring.

Tavros, in the lead, comes to an abrupt halt. As could be an expected result of this action, Sollux, Nepeta, and Feferi promptly crash into the back of him, falling into a tangled mess as consequence. "Augh! Tavros, what the fuck?" Sollux grabs his face and tries desperately to find his legs. Of course for him it's a lot harder than for say one of the girls to simply get up and then help him to his feet, which is exactly what his former matesprit, Feferi does a few moments later. "You know I can't see you stop."

One might expect Sollux and Feferi's relationship to have hit a few bumps in the past couple weeks since they left Vriska and the others, what with Feferi being dead, and that would be true. Sollux's other half currently melded with Eridan as Erisolsprite, tried hard to apologize for what happened so long ago but only ended up being responsible for the death of people he cared about yet again. After meeting up with Nepeta and Feferi again, this time with his blind half, he and Feferi often had long talks on the pirate ship about their deaths and current events. In the end they both decided that with Feferi's impending doom at the hands of the Lord of Time as well as the mortality difference between the two of them as of now, Sollux would eventually have to return to Aradia and the land of the living sometime in the future.

Tavros continues to stare blankly at what is in front of them, "Uh, guys? I think we've reached the brink of death."

"All of us have died at least once," Sollux remarks while brushing himself off, still annoyed about the fall. "It shouldn't be news anymore."

"Actually Sollux," Feferi explains. "I think he means we've reached the end of the dream bubbles. Out there may very well be the new session. Our old friends, living, breathing individuals like you, could be out there right now!"

Though he is incapable of seeing, Sollux gapes in awe at whatever is worth beholding, "You really think so?"

Sollux feels something lightly tap him on the back. He turns around instinctively, already knowing it's Nepeta, "Hey Sollux, you know how yurrr the only live one of us?" Sollux nods. Of course he knows. "Maybe you can try to cross through? You're purrobably the only one who can."

"What do you mean cross through? You mean leave all of you?" Sollux frantically shakes his head and makes x-marks with his arms. This idea is not okay. "You know I can't do that! Who knows when the next time I see you will be? Lord English could appear any moment in time!" He feels Feferi's gentle hand on his shoulder. He turns to her, desperate for support.

"Sollux," she says with a loving, but sad tone. At that moment he knows none of this will help him. They strongly believe he should leave them all behind and escape while he can.

"Feferi, no. I can't," he pleads, near pathetically. "You all know I can't!"

He feels Feferi pull him into a hug, "Sollux, please. Do this for us. See if you can save us. Help our live friends. You're the only one who can since Aradia's helping all the dead ones. Besides, in life you'll be safer hidden from English."

"English could get to anyone no matter where they are," Sollux continues to argue, thoroughly frustrated. "You know that."

"Uh, you do know that English is indestructible," Tavros points out. "So you couldn't exactly do anything if he comes even if you were to stay."

Sollux looks at his three friends, though he doesn't know quite what each of their expressions are. Whatever they are, they seem to have made up their minds, "You really think this what I should do?"

"Of course we do!" Nepeta exclaims. "If you survive, than it may be to give us a fighting chance, and if you don't, you can just come right back here with us!"

That's final. They've made up their mind. Sollux holds his head and sighs, "Well, if that's really what you want." He turns to pink-tinted space of oblivion, wondering exactly how he'll go about exiting the afterlife. There is no door, and the only way Sollux was able to enter the dream bubbles was because his dead half allowed him to do so. But now that he's fully alive, will he even be able to return if he leaves?

His thoughts are cut off when Tavros lets out a startled scream and a large, black object comes hurtling out of nowhere. It whirs right past Sollux's head, nearly taking out his second, right horn. Terezi's smelling lessons just barely signify the color and size while the rest is all a jumbled blur.

The other three trolls- the ones with actual sight- gawk, their jaws gaping open at the giant, chasmal hole in time and space the black thing just ripped open. Sollux notices their silence and turns back around, "Um, what are you guys staring at?"

Tavros blurts out, "Sollux, don't you see that?"

"No," Sollux growls, slightly irritated at the number of times they've been over this issue.

"The dream bubble," Nepeta gasps. "I think they popped it!"

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on," Sol mumbles, thoroughly confused.

Sollux feels Feferi's hands grab him again and turn him around to the hole, "Sollux, whatever that thing was, it flew straight through the bubble and back into the living, breathing world! Right now, we stand here watching the drifting rift in the space-time continuum. All you have to do is step through, and best part is, right outside leads to the Land of Frost and Frogs!"

Sol's eyebrows go up in surprise, "Jade's planet?" What an odd coincidence. Suddenly, Fef's hands push him forward, willing him to do what they've planned. He stumbles in the hole's direction, noes to the air, trying to recall what Terezi taught him about seeing through taste and smell. He hears the cheers of the others behind him, slowly fading away with each awkward step, "Come on Sollux, you got this. We know you can do it."

"When you get the oppurrtunity, tell our old friends hi!"

"Don't –uh- trip. 'Cause your blind."

He feels a whoosh of air slide briskly passed his face which tells him he must be passing through the hole. But he realizes exactly what it is he's doing, everything goes terribly wrong once he fully returns through the barrier out of the Furthest Ring. His float is gone and his body begins to tip to one side as he plummets down to the snowy planet. Sollux prays that he didn't exit the afterlife just to die and return again.

Luckily, the hole in the dream bubble isn't that far from the ground, so Sol ends up landing on the frosty grass with only a slightly painful thud. Dazed, he slowly sits up, his head spinning from all the recent trauma. Having no sight or skill to work with no sight can occasionally work to your advantage as it sharpens all of your other senses. Right now is one of the few times it ever works to Sol's. He never thought he'd be able to describe the sound of wreckage, but now the smoldering mess that smells like oranges and baked goods rings all too clear in the blind troll's ears- along with the incessant ramblings of a strikingly familiar voice.

"Whoa. That was trippy," a gruff voice grumbles from not too far away. "Everyone okay in there?" Spades Slick takes out his captchacard and releases the orange oven in which his crew currently resides in, rapping his knuckles firmly against it.

After about a minute of incoherent complaining from the boneheaded felt comes a muffled, "Yes. We're fine," of Ms. Paint from inside.

Relieved, Slick leans into the oven, "Alright, hang tight fellas. We've reached our jackpot destination. I just have to figure out where to go from here, and where exactly English could be hiding. I'll let you out if I spot any trouble." A small groan from a little ways off catches Slick's attention. He immediately spins around to face the direction of the noise. "I think I might've found something already."

Slick recaptchalogues the oven and begins to walk along the frosty path, examining for signs of intelligent life. The frozen grass crunches underneath his feet with each step and patches of snow litter the ground. Countless, tiny frogs peek at him from behind rocks and roots while others dodge out of the way of his oncoming footsteps, or at least the live ones do. That's all this whole place seems to be- just a bunch of frost and frogs.

Slick stops in his tracks as he hears it again. Another groan. It's closer this time. It seems as though it's from possibly a carapace, troll, human, cherub, or any other species possessing the intellectual capability of playing the game that brought about his very existence. He would guess the owner of the voice is an adolescent male of some sort. This brings back plenty of memories of his time years ago as an agent of Derse, making an alliance with the players of his session, twelve adolescent trolls- one of which he grew rather fond of. Karkat is his name, as he remembers. Slick often wonders what those trolls are up to nowadays. The last he ever heard of them was that they were about to win their session when something went wrong. He never figured out what, but he somehow feels it indirectly had something to do with that insufferable prick, Scratch. It's a good thing that guy is dead now. Slick never could take any of his bullshit.

He quickens his pace, eager to know what will meet his sight. Finally, a limp figure appears, lying in the snow. Everything Slick previously assumed about the figure turns out to be true. From the dark hair and grey skin, he can quickly tell it's a troll, his average height tells him that he is in fact of adolescence, and the slim, lengthy figure reveals the masculinity. Is this his session? Did the trolls Slick made an alliance with have to reboot their universe after he himself put a bullet through it?

But wait a minute. As Slick gets closer he finds there is something very peculiar about this troll. This one has double horns. Could it really be him? Slick assumes he's a psiionic judging by the red and blue-colored eye-patches (which he's not sure why he's wearing since they're quite ridiculous), and his shirt has the yellow sign of the Gemini on it, so he must be a yellow-blood. Yep. It's definitely him. Suddenly, the troll speaks up in a weak, shaky voice, "Licorice. I smell you. We know each other from somewhere."

All alone and helplessly blind, Sol grapples around in the snow before finally lying still. This is completely pointless. He should have known he wouldn't've been able to do anything useful. Footsteps trudge through the snow, closer and closer from where he heard that voice earlier. Finally Sol knows someone stands right next to him when the footsteps stop inches from his head. Tentatively, he once again raises his nose to the air and sniffs hard. He catches a whiff of…licorice? What does this mean? Urgently, Sollux searches his mind for what Terezi said about smelling colors. Licorice is black. What else is black other than troll hair and most Alternian color scheme? Only one other thing stands out in Sollux's mind amidst all the darkness. Every carapacian inhabitant of Derse was a pitch black color, most prominently Jack Noir, but not the one that entered their session from the humans' and killed all their dream selves, causing them to restart both universes.

Sol remembers how while playing sGrub, he and his friends made an alliance with their session's Noir to help him kill the black king and queen, so he never could hurt them and in the end sort of formed a small bond with Karkat. Whoever stands before him now smells exactly like Jack Noir looked except more battered and…robotic. But he can't be him. He had to have been killed in the scratch, right? Even so, the only thing Sol can think whoever this is to be is some sort of carapace. His pursuer speaks with the very same voice of both Jack Noir and the voice he heard earlier, "Hey, kid. It's been a while. Where's your crybaby friend and all your other friends for that matter.., and what's with the double eye-patches? I can stab whoever took your eyes and get them back for ya."

Sollux sputters for a second, "What happened to your arm? I probably won't be able to get it back regardless."

Slick lets out a rumbling chuckle. This kid's alright, "Not on the ground your not." He extends his robotic arm to grab the troll's left arm. The troll pathetically wriggles around, attempting to ease himself upward as Slick pulls him to his feet. Sollux wobbles around a little at first but Slick steadies him, offering support wherever he can. He gets another chance to fully study the troll. He's sure he's the same one but with stupid-looking eye-patches this time, and he does seem to remember him, "I know you. I remember Deuce keeping tabs on ya while I kept tabs on your friend that cried and yelled a lot. Jegus, that all seemed so long ago."

"Karkat?" Sollux blurts out nearly losing his balance. It's all coming back now.

"Yeah! That's his name," Slick snaps his fingers in realization. "Whatever happened to that little wuss anyway?"

"Actually, he's sort of who I'm looking for, among others, of course," Sol spills out everything that's going on at the moment. He's incredibly relieved to have found someone he knows, even if he is just an acquaintance. "I really don't know what's going on right now. I know this planet, but I assumed this was just another dream bubble until you came. Karkat is supposedly at the rebooted session now. You wouldn't happen to have seen him lately, have you?"

"Sorry, kid but no. That's why I asked you in the first place. Matter of fact, I haven't heard from you since you freaked out on Derse right before that fish girl kissed your corpse."

"Oh," Sollux feels a pang as he realizes how much he already misses Feferi. "You saw that."

"Yep. Deuce said he spoke two words to you and then you just flipped the fuck out. Oh gog, you remind me so much of him!"

"So, uh, how did you survive, then?"

"Oh. It's really complicated. I'll let you in on this piece of trivia, I'm the one who ended your universe." Before either could say anymore, the sound of obnoxious barking omits from the gnarled woodland below along with a brilliant, pink burst of light that appears in the sky and quickly descends to the sounds of the barking. To Sollux, those barks are all too familiar. "Jegus! What was that?"

"I know who that is, Mr. Noir."

"Who?"

"It's you from a parallel dimension. He was following the meteor Karkat was on, which tells me that this is the new session, and if this is it, then Karkat and the others could be somewhere around here as well." The continuous, angry barking of what sounds like two dogs off in distance continues. Sol has no idea where the second dog came from, but he does know this is the first time he's ever felt a sense of dread at the number two.

Sol still can't figure out what the giant, orange block is among the stench of mandarin cookies.

Slick kneels to help Sollux up again. Slowly, he guides him down the steep slope and into the twisted woods. The vicious barks and growls grow louder as they trek deeper in. Low branches from the tangled trees intrude the narrow path and in their way, threatening to snag onto whatever wanders near. The frogs in the woods are more alive in both the literal and figurative sense and there is notably less snow. Violet-colored hummingbirds and weird, small, sparkly…things float down from the treetops.

They reach a cluster of trees. The barking seems to come from within. Slick whispers for Sollux to stay put. Amongst the snarling dogs, they can also hear someone yelling rather profound but useless altercations. Sollux recognizes him as Dave Strider. The sight that beseeches Slick's eyes is a bewildering one as he peeks through the trees. Two dogs near identical, one black, the other white, both curl their lips in a snarl whilst pointing their swords at a blond god tier with shades who also wields a way cooler sword. The black dog, who reminds Slick the most of what he used to be, holds the body of another god tier, a witch of space by the looks of her, though she appears to be dead currently. Perhaps she was Noir's victim? How in paradox space did he ever manage to kill a god tier?

Slick trudges back to where Sollux sits and nudges him on the shoulder, "Come on, kid. Let's see if you can sniff this out." He links his arm with him and carefully guides the troll to the clearing of trees. "Any idea why there's also a white, gender-flipped version of me?"

Sol takes a nice, big whiff, concentrating hard. What he gets is more licorice, some vanilla, what he recognizes as Dave's candy red god tier outfit, and also a mysterious hint of strawberries from off in the distance, "The black dog smells a lot like you, though a lot less like a cyborg. He's the one who broke into our session and doomed us to failure. I've never seen the white one before, but the red one is Dave. This was his universe before he had to reboot it. If he's here, it's likely so are the others. There's another smell here, but it smells a little weird, like the road-kill Nepeta's lusus would always drag in whenever I'd visit her hive."

Slick's heart begins to ache despite his better judgment. What's gotten into him that turned him into such a softie all of a sudden? "You know that dog girl? Not the white one, the one that's also part human. She looks like some kind of spacey witch. I think she may be what you're smelling."

"You mean Jade? I never actually met her in person, but I don't know why she would be a dog. She is the witch of space, so she has to be the one. Why, what's wrong with her?"

"I'm sorry, kid, but I think she's dead…"

"What? What do you mean she's dead?" suddenly, the strawberry smell becomes stronger than ever and a rather distracting sci-fiish noise is heard. Slick is taken completely off guard as a spontaneous, pink spark flashes through the woods. The firework of heart explodes to reveal yet a third god tier clothed in a rather peculiar prince getup, poofy pants and all. His clothes are a magenta color with the sBurb heart symbol clear on his top, introducing him as the prince of heart. He bears a striking resemblance to Dave, only with spikier hair and kickass anime shades. Before he can ask the question, Sollux answers it. "I don't know who that is. I'd assume he's Dave's ancestor judging by the lemony hair and licorice shades, or at least that's going by what Aradia told me."

The two watch as Dirk stands there in bewilderment at the sight of his young bro fighting two godly dogs over his witch's dead body. He stays in that awkward position for a while, not quite knowing what to do before finally gathering up enough courage to call out a few sentences, "Bro? Is that really you?"

That turns out to be a horrible idea. At the sound of the slightly familiar voice, Dave snaps his head up and looks around for the source, distracted from his trial. Immediately, Bec Noir seizes this opportunity and with a quick slash of his sword, Dave goes down.

"NO!" Sollux cries out, unable to control himself. Slick tries to hold him down, but Sollux is already making his way out into the clearing, the smell of death and human blood fresh in his mind. The dogs are too frenzied by Sollux's sudden outburst that they forget to finish the knight off. Stumbling down to the group, Sollux falls to the ground and attempts to feel out Dave's body. He clings onto a limp figure and can feel his warm, candy-red blood oozing out onto his fingers. "Oh gog." He sniffs out Dirk and turns his head in his direction. "What did you just do?"

Horrified, Dirk frantically stutters, "I didn't mean this at all! I swear!"

Sol stands up as best as he can, facing the dogs and throwing his arms straight out in front of him in a pathetic attempt to guard the body. He hears a hard thud on the grass, which he assumes is Bec Noir dropping Jade's corpse in order to raise his sword for the kill. His mind races. "Look, it doesn't matter. Just get them out of here."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Dirk seems to get the message as he hurriedly flies over and uses his levitation powers to lift both Dave and Jade off the ground and then flies away with them while the dogs are still distracted.

Sollux can't see, but he's sure Noir is about to slice him in half just like he did to his dream self. Blind and defenseless, Sol can do nothing but block his unseeing face with his shaking arms while he waits for the worst. Not knowing exactly what to do, he mindlessly shouts, "Jack, I need your help now!"

"I'm on it!" Slick shouts over to the struggling troll. He has to act fast if Sol is to survive. Bec Noir looked like he was about to slash him open the way he did to the blond human but then Bec Blanche suddenly intervened and continued the fight the two were originally in. Quickly, Slick pulls out his card and again extracts the oven, rapping on it harshly with his foot, "Eh! Paint! Get the guys ready! We've found something!"

He pulls the oven into the open. A faint sound emanates from inside, the sound of voices, many voices. They sound as if they're arguing amongst themselves. Slick becomes agitated, "Shut up in there! I told you I'd let you all out when it's time!" The voices quickly cease. "Alright, crew. I need you to protect that troll from those two dogs over there." With a heave, he yanks open the oven door and his crew spills out, eager for some action after being stuck in a cramped area for so long.

Ms. Paint leads the rest of the felt out into the clearing in a cluster of greenery. Immediately they all throw themselves as one giant mass onto the stunned dogs and begin to beat down on both of them.

In the midst of all the chaos, Slick determinedly sprints in himself in search of Sollux. He finally finds him sputtering and disoriented on the ground in the middle of the battle. Slick grabs him, pulls him to his feet, and looks around for Ms. Paint. He spots her sneaking up behind Noir while he's occupied fighting his way through the rest of the felt. Quietly she retrieves Snowman's old cigarette holder from her sylladex and holds it at the ready. "Paint!" Slick calls out frantically as she prepares to stab the holder into the back of Noir's head. "Come quick! We need you." Paint's head spins around to Slick's direction. She squeezes herself hastily out from the fight and makes her way around the writhing mass of green to her fiancé. "Ms. Paint, let them deal with the dogs and help me get him to a safe place. We should probably follow where that violet kid went."

"How do you know that's a safe place?" Paint has to raise her voice to be heard over the clamor of the skirmish taking place around her.

"I don't," Slick responds, yelling just as loud. "I'm just assuming!" That seems to be enough to convince Ms. Paint. She hurries over to take Sollux's other arm and wrap it over her shoulder. Both her and Slick slip slowly but unnoticed away from the battle and through the thick woodland, carrying the blind troll upon their shoulders. The same pink flash of light that marks Dirk's trail illuminates the sky again, heading above the trees in the direction of what looks like west. Ms. Paint and Slick don't know where the human is headed, but anywhere is better than this forest. The two keep on a windy but consistent trail that seems to be leading them to yet another clearing high on a hill. Dirk looks like he's following the trail too. Some low-hanging branches smack them in the face but they keep going. "Paint, look!" Slick points to the sky, hovering just above the large hill.

"Oh my! What is that thing and why is he heading for it?" Ms. Paint gasps. As they continue to run, a shadow comes over them. A shadow cast by a giant, red spaceship spreads across the expanse of what looks like over a mile. The ship is shaped like the end of a double pitchfork and shows a white, crockerfork logo on it's undercarriage.

"That is bad news," Slick spits. "I've never seen it for myself, but I've heard legends about this. That ship belongs to the batterwitch. She's not part of the felt, but she's one of English's many treacherous succubi, and she's conquered thousands of planets in the span of her prolonged life, so it's only fitting she'd come to this one right after it's inhabitants were freed. Unfortunately for her, there's no one left on this planet except for frogs- and most of them are dead." They finally find themselves at an uphill slope and begin their climb up. Soon the sound of shouting is heard up ahead. It's all incoherent and Dirk's trail is gone, so there's no knowing what exactly is going on, but Slick knows that wherever the batterwitch is, there's trouble.

When they reach the top, they find a sight even more caliginous than the one in the clearing. They spot Dirk's unforgettable heart tier floating near a fallen, white tower that stretches for miles. Another blonde god tier is with him, a seer of light. They both stand watch over Dave, Jade, and a third blonde who appears to be the rogue of void.

Upon the base of what little of the tower still stands, a rather peculiar dilemma takes place. A cerulean-blooded troll dressed in badass, oceanic, pirate garb is currently being sleep-groped by another human, this one with the same tan skin-color and black hair as Jade. She too is a god tier, though neither Slick nor Ms. Paint can exactly figure out what kind. Her outfit makes her out to be some sort of maid, but the color-scheme does not match the front symbol. She's the same color as the batterwitch's space ship all the way down to her life symbol being white just like the crockerfork. She also dons a red tiara with the pisces symbol in the middle of it. Slick gasps, completely blown away by that stunning revelation. She's working for the batterwitch! They can guess she plans to make her heiress to the throne. The two feel Sollux start to squirm as the scent of the scrap seems to upset him.

Further along the fallen tower, floating in the middle of a pit of lava, two familiar trolls seem to be locked in a rather callous brawl. This can't be any courtship ritual. It's too brutal even by black standards, although the tall bard of rage god tier seems to be intent on keeping the other troll alive. Each time he swings her off the edge and it appears she will fall into the lava, he swings her back up again and proceeds to beat the ever-loving shit out of her. She still seems to be dying nonetheless. She's too weak to have any capability of fighting back, not that he'd let her. She can barely stand up without his support and he seems to have blindfolded her with a red scarf. Both bodies are stained by his purple and her teal blood, but mostly hers. A little ways off, a bewildered-looking human, a page of hope judging by his lack of pants, with the same skin and hair color as Jade and Jane lies in a fetal positing, unsure of what to make of the tussling trolls. Sollux gasps, uttering the horrified words, "Terezi…no…"

"Hey," Slick curiously nudges Sollux. "What's up with those two? They were great friends last I saw."

In an angry, trembling voice, Sol hisses, "They were. We all were until we saw Gamzee's true nature. He used to be so friendly. He would listen to everyone's problems no matter how evil or kinky they'd get. But right before the scratch, he flipped out and murdered Nepeta and Equius. He would've murdered everyone else too if Karkat hadn't calmed him down. We should've seen it coming, should've read the signs. It's in his blood, but I guess he was just so laid-back we all put it out of our think pans and refused to believe he'd turn into such a vicious killer. It doesn't help that his viciousness just makes him all the more…Where is Karkat anyway? Why is he letting this happen? Aren't they supposed to be moirails?"

Slick looks around for a moment, then points when he spots the familiar troll, "There he is! I can't believe I still recognize him. He looks exactly the same." Sollux and Ms. Paint look over to the other side of the clearing. Karkat and Kanaya stand there and boy do they look pissed. Their faces curl into daggers up at Gamzee. Kanaya has her chainsaw out and looks pretty close to revving it up and doing some serious damage. That's funny, Sollux thinks. She's not glowing anymore. Is she alive now? There must've been a lot he missed over the last three years. He wants to scream at Karkat to tell him to stop Gamzee before it's too late. What is he doing just standing there, watching?

But then the three notice something even stranger. Despite everything that's happening, it's all seemed to stop in motion, giving way for the baroness to do her dirty deeds. It feels the attention of everyone who isn't either dead or unconscious is directed up above their heads to Betty Crocker's ship.

Her Imperious _Condescension stands at the bow of her ship, glaring down maliciously at everyone in the clearing, especially Aranea the pirate troll. It's a bad time, but Slick can't help but smirk at the batterwitch's plans being foiled by a scrap of adolescents with lame superpowers. Still, as the witch slowly raises her red trident and points it at Aranea, who's still immobilized due to Jane, Slick realizes this is another step in his quest to taking down English for good. He whispers to Ms. Paint, "We have to get on that ship before she does anything." Paint nods in understanding. They slowly lower Sollux to the ground. Slick ejects one of the many daggers out of his collection and places it in the troll's shaking hand. "Stay out of sight. Do not get into trouble." With that, he grabs Ms. Paint, dispenses English's old peg-leg from his cards, and soars up to the ship to confront the witch._

_ Once again alone, Sol pulls himself up to his feet, grabs Slick's knife, and sniffs out the part of the white tower that still stands. Following the scent of blueberries and saltwater wrapped in maraschino, he drunkenly stumbles over hills, rocks and piles of snow, frequently falling onto his face but always getting back up and continuing. Finally he reaches the base of the tower and begins his perilous climb up._

_ Meanwhile, Slick and Ms. Paint reach the ship's bow where the batterwitch stands, eyes still literally smoldering with red and blue psiionic and she stares the carapaces down. Paint secretly pulls out her holder once more and hides it behind her back. Slick turns the scepter-turned peg-leg until it points directly at the seawitch. The Skaia orb at the end of it rapidly flashes different colors and patterns as if it's about to blow._

_ Atop what's left of the tower, Aranea has had enough of this shit. It's time to ascend to murder mode. But wait. What is this human doing? Is she always this committed in her sleep? Immobilized within the confines of Jane's sleepgrope, Aranea can do nothing but watch as her hand slowly raises, a brilliant turquoise spark beginning to emanate from it, pointed straight at Aranea's face! She struggles vainly, not wanting to have her soul sucked out again. The blue light glows brighter and brighter until Aranea finally ducks her head out of the way just in time for it to shoot out and narrowly miss her. She feels the air disturbed by the force gently ruffle her bangs._

_ The beam of blue light blasts downwards from the tower and across the clearing. It clears the lava pool completely, hurling straight over Gamzee, Jake, and Terezi's heads, between Dirk and Rose, and hits Jade's dead body. Only then does Aranea remember what type of class Jane belongs to. Forgetting she is even there, Aranea stares with dread over to where the small group of humans who also watch Jade intently. The same turquoise glow starts to spread all over her body, slowly consuming her. Her dark, skin color immediately replaces the dead paleness after she was killed and even from her position high above, Aranea notices the faint rise and fall of her chest within that black, space dress. Just great. Now all her work was for nothing. Oh well, Aranea thinks to herself. It takes a while for people to revive via life player powers. She still has plenty of time to brainstorm how to kill her and make sure she stays dead this time._

_ Slick's orb vibrates fiercely as color pulsates more and more rapidly within. A burst of brilliance launches from the scepter and towards the baroness. The witch's mouth curls into a look of pure horror as the power about to obliterate her is exactly the same as that of her boss. Slick sneers triumphantly and Paint's heart flutters with suspended joy. But suddenly another flash of green light appears in front of the condesce a split second before the orb's power hits her and collides with it. Slick and Ms. Paint's expressions turn to complete shock as a white cat appears from the light and the orb's power is suddenly nowhere to be seen._

_ Slick stands there in silence for a beat before an obnoxious explosion of Skaia's spectrum erupts behind him and Ms. Paint._

_ Aranea concentrates hard, struggling to breathe as Jane's unconscious arms robotically squeeze her lungs like sponges, on Dirk's katana in hopes of directing it to Jade's chest before she has the chance to fully revive. All that concentration proves all to be unnecessary once a beam of what Aranea can only describe as the pallet of the universe hits her sleepy, sexual harasser and eliminates her from that space. A weight is suddenly pulled off the pirate troll and she stumbles forward in awkward surprise. She looks around. Jane is nowhere to be found. She knows this can only be the work of one God Cat. Even better. That little prick is always screwing up everyone's plans. It seems to currently be on her side, however. Now she can just pick the katana up and impale Jade herself._

_ Sollux gasps for breath as he exhaustedly yanks his body upward with each grab of his arm. After what seems like sweeps of tireless climbing, his strong sense of touch eventually finds nothing steep to cling onto anymore, but rather a limitless, flat surface. A spark of determination flares up inside of him as he realizes he's reached the top and he pulls the rest of his body up all the way. Upon getting to the top, he sits for a moment to rest up and catch his breath, stands, and sniffs the air. To his surprise, he can no longer detect the maraschino scent of whom he thinks to be John's ancestor. Only Aranea's Machiavellian scent remains. What's left of Sol's teeth grit at the recognition of the smell and his nostrils flare, "You."_

_ At first, Aranea doesn't even seem to notice him, her voice extremely casual and absent-minded, "Oh. It's you. How did you manage to get here? The last I saw, Tavros, you, Nepeta, and Feferi all defiantly abandoned our crew in search of less robust ventures in the dream bubbles. What happened to all your friends? Surely they couldn't leave the bubbles since they're dead. Oh well. I'll not bother you anymore. I have more important affairs to deal with at the present time and I can't let someone as unimportant as you interfere."_

_ Sollux feels a distant rage he has not felt in ages suddenly ignite within his chest. All of Aranea's smug shit has finally gotten to him. He's never been this pissed off before, not when Karkat bitched at him, not when he found out Aradia tricked him into destroying his own race, not even when saying his last words to Vriska before leaving the pirate ship, "Everyone was wrong about you. You're just like the other Serkets. You're dangerous and you mess with everyone and everything just for attention and glory. Your Nice Girl act may have fooled your crew, but don't think I don't know you're capable of just as much destruction as your ancestors. Someone should have eliminated you a long time ago. Long before you had the chance to cause this much damage."_

_ Aranea's not even listening. Her main focus is on the tower where most of the humans dwell. Her concentration on taking aim of Dirk's sword into Jade serves as a convenient distraction from what Sol plans to do. As quietly as possible, he unsheathes the dagger given to him by Slick and slowly climbs to his feet. Sniffing out the pirate's direction, he eases on light feet toward her for what feels like an eternity. Her blueberry scent grows stronger as he approaches until he is nearly breathing down the other troll's back. He holds his knife, ready to puncture the huge bitch._

_ When it finally seems Aranea has found a clear shot between father and daughter and prepares to telepathically stab Jade straight through the chest, a sharp, wet pain suddenly explodes in her side. She looks over to see the blind Sollux, red and blue eye-patches still intact, plunging a dagger straight into her right hip. Cerulean blood splatters out everywhere, staining her dress and getting all over Sol's arms. She finds herself too surprised to even be able to scream this time. The agony emitted by this act of violence is worse than anything Dirk was able to produce with his katana at long-range, though not as much as his soul-sucking power. A head-on wound like this will take a while to subside along with the pain._

_ Sol retracts the dagger, the smell of the ocean splashing onto his face in form of troll blood. Before Aranea can do anything more, he jabs the dagger in a second time, this time engraving it into her shoulder and working his way in between her bones. She grunts and struggles madly as more blood is drawn and falls to her knees, forcing the dagger out again and causing another pained squeal. Sollux tries this a few more times, once nicking her nose and knocking her glasses off, and another time ripping a giant hole in her Mindfang dress, "Ugh! Hold still so I can kill you properly! It'll be quicker and less painful for the both of us!"_

_ "Why are you doing this, Sollux? You never have stricken me as a killer and I'm only trying to help all of our friends," Aranea gasps out whilst choking on her own blood and silently begging her ring to do it's magic and heal her to stop all the pain. Her energy dies out with the more holes Sollux pokes into her and her vision begins to fade, leading to a cease in struggling as well._

_ Noticing the slowing of her resistance, Sollux starts to back off as well. An overwhelming case of tunnel vision bestows itself upon the pirate's eyes and she falls to the ground, the other troll's dagger quickly unhooking itself out from under her back plate for the last time._

_ Sol smells nothing but her blood and from what he can tell, she is not in any condition to be reviving soon. Her body sprawls out awkwardly, her limbs unevenly crooked in proportion to her bloodstained torso. Despite the immense pain and tranquility of the life ring's pace, Aranea smiles through her tears. Sollux beat her. He had the potential to kill her right after she called him unimportant. She underestimated him and now her plan may fail as a result of her long-term immobilization. She is but another step closer to achieving the goals of her beta self. Her eyes close at that note, finally slipping into sweet unconsciousness._

_ The effort by which Sollux pulls out the dagger swings his arm out over his head, causing him to flail clumsily and fall on his ass. The dagger, slippery from his sweat and Aranea's blood flings out of his hand. He hears it clatter not far from where he sits. His breathing is even more intensified after the whole ordeal and he struggles to get it to die down. His head pounds as if it were the Green Sun and he had The Tumor and he chokes on blueberry-tasting blood, making it throb even more painfully. All he wants to do is lie down and rest his aching body. He wants to see Aradia, Tavros, and the others again. He knows he can't, at least not just yet. He returned to the waking world for a reason and he can't go back until he finds the others in the new session. After a while, the pounding subsides along with the crippling dizziness. He pushes himself to his knees and begins to grope the circumference of the tower, finally latching onto Slick's dagger, still sticky with blood. Then, he stands up and looks around. He isn't finished yet._

_ Ms. Paint stands in shock. What just happened? First it looked like Slick was about to blast the Condesce to smithereens with English's peg-leg before a strange cat appeared out of nowhere and teleported it behind them. Slick bears his teeth in fury. He looks about to snap the scepter in half, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? THIS LEG IS SO USELESS! WHERE THE HELL DID THAT CAT GO? I'LL SNAP IT'S NECK! PAINT, FIND IT AND PLUNGE YOUR CIGARETTE HOLDER SO DEEP INTO IT'S BRAINS!.."_

_ Just as shocked as the others, the baroness watches Slick rant for a moment. Though she'll admit she enjoys seeing an enemy so riled up like this, she is far from triumphant herself. That stupid feline is more trouble than the Disciple. It would have been easier if the God Cat teleported her away instead. At least then her lovely heiress could still handles matters while she made her way back just like she's been doing. Now that Jane is out of her reach, she won't be possessed any longer and will be without her weapon when she wakes up. She may have been sent to a place that could very well kill her so she may never resurrect. That animal is so unpredictable, and now yet another one of her many enemies has found yet another one of the many ways to destroy her. The troll empress just barely inwardly sighs. Everywhere she turns, someone is trying to foil her plan and always nearly succeeding. Today is supposed to be the big day…but it just isn't hers._

_ Finally Slick calms down and points the scepter again at the baroness, attempting at a second try. Skaia revs up inside again and the same burst of light explodes from it. The multi-colored, flashy light heads straight towards the condesce, her mouth open wide in repressed outrage. Right before it hits her, Slick and Paint look on in horror at the familiar, brilliant ball of green light. That wretched cat again! As soon as it appears, it teleports Skaia's power as well as itself down below once again._

_ Both Paint and the condesce gawk wide-eyed and open-mouthed as the last of the light disappears into the familiar, frosty dewdrops of the planet. Slick slams his scepter down in another fit of rage, "AGAIN! IT APPEARED AGAIN! WHAT IS DOING? WHY IS IT TRYING TO FUCK WITH US? I'M GOING TO WRING THAT LITTLE GREMLIN! WATCH ME, PAINT. YOU STAY AND SEE, BATTERWITCH. SEE HOW I DEMONSTRATE THE VERY ANNIALATION POTENTIAL OF SKAIA BEFORE I USE IT ON YOU!"_

_ Meanwhile, Skaia's blast is again transported away from the ship, but this time in a different spot. Instead of appearing on the tower where Jane was and blasting her away, it now shoots out from behind Terezi and Gamzee and heads right for Jake, knocking him clear across the lava lake and completely out of sight while Rose and Dirk look on in awe. "I DON'T KNOW WHY THIS IS HAPPENIIIIIIIING!" Jake screams as he unwilling flies through the air, a look of pure confusion etched into his features. His voice is spontaneously cut off after he disappears._

_ Sollux suddenly catches a whiff of fresh, spring grass behind him and turns around. The grass smell is replaced by what smells like Pounce de Leon if she were turned into a snowball. Obviously some sort of feline. Then the cat pounces, catching Sollux's shoulder. In a panic, he lets go of his dagger and flails, walking backwards and unknowingly toward the edge of the tower. His foot doesn't meet flat ground and tips on the edge, forcing him to trip and fall backwards to his doom, the cat still clinging to him. He hears and feels a whoosh and smells the grass again before the falling sensation comes to an abrupt stop._

_ He feels heat burning around him, taking form of the smell of chili. The cat is gone from his shoulder. Realizing there is still nothing beneath him, he falls a short one second before slightly painfully hitting more, chalky-white tower. His dagger falls with him, hitting him on the head to alert him. He swings his head around and finally focuses on the crippling horrid scene that makes him want to vomit._

_ Terezi's minty blood returns fresh to his mind as he hears her pained gasps and pants for an end to the suffering. She doesn't even seem to have the strength to get away. Not that she could if she tried. She'd never be able to escape the clown. Even if she could, the whole tower is immersed in lava._

_ It doesn't appear as if Gamzee even acknowledges his presence. His attention is obviously directed at something very far off. He's probably trying to showoff to someone._

_ Sollux grimaces and picks up the dagger again, Aranea's blood still fresh on the blade. He'll just have to use it a second time. He walks toward the smell of Gamzee's grape-colored god tier suit very slowly. He wonders in the back of his mind where and when he ascended. There's not a single time he can remember this douche dying. He can't even remember his dream self being killed in the green miles on Prospit, but then again, things were pretty hectic. Danger just seems to avoid him as if paradox space is working completely in his favor. Sollux raises the dagger, aiming straight for the smell of grapes, and in a lucky shot, sticks Gamzee directly in his back._

_ Down by the forest, Karkat and Kanaya's expressions morph from furious to bewildered. Gamzee just stopped flipping them off and suddenly drops Terezi. Another burst of purple blood explodes from his chest, darkening his god tier suit even more. They think they catch a glimmer of light shine amidst the purple, as if something metal is in his chest. Someone must've gotten him with some kind of knife, but who? Not Terezi. She's bleeding out on the tower right in front of him, barely conscious. Whoever it was, they're about to manically regret it._

_ Gamzee immediately stops what he was doing before Sol stabbed him and starts to cough up what little blood that hasn't poured out his chest already. Sollux pauses to observe him before doing anything else. Seeing Gamzee again after all these years gives him…feelings. He's had these feels before, but only once when he last saw Gamzee. He hasn't felt them since as he never encountered any alternate Gamzees in the Furthest Ring, but he knows them well._

_ He last saw Gamzee in the Veil after he had gathered the heads of all their dead friends together and made out with them. Before Karkat calmed him down, Kanaya and Terezi had wanted to kill him, but Sollux's conflicting feelings for him had gotten in the way of his decisions. At that point, his duality complex had had him caught between love and hate even though he had clearly been a psychopathic murderer. Now is different. With his duality theme dropped for good after seeing what he did to Terezi, there is no love left. Only pure, ravenous, lustful hate that burns like an angry flame in the pit of his stomach, growing larger with every passing second._

_ Without thinking, Sollux spins Gamzee around to face him and smashes his lips against his bloody mouth, biting into whatever he can grab hold on with what teeth he has remaining. Terezi was right about the tastes as well. As soon as his mouth meets the god tier's a flood of warm, sticky, grape soda swarms his tongue, making Sollux want to gag. Still, he clings on and draws more blood, adding to the horrible taste. He doesn't even question whether or not he's cheating on Terezi. They've gone way too far this time and if they were in an abusive relationship by the way it looked, this is the best way to finalize their break-up if they won't do it themselves. It seems to have worked as Gamzee looks to have completely forgotten Karkat, Kanaya, Terezi, and the condesce and is totally entranced in Sol's black advances. Not that Sollux wants to start anything with him, but he couldn't help but act on his black urges after they've finally returned. Still, he's determined not to let this get in the way of his plans. There's still shit to do._

_ Still locked in their deadly, make-out session, Sol reaches around to Gamzee's back where his dagger still sticks. He feels around for it until he finally grabs hold of the plastic handle, slippery with blood. He pulls it out of Gamzee's back before driving it into his chest. Unsurprisingly, there's really not much of his chest that is left to drive it into. After a long and furious series of holes Sol figures is from Terezi's cane, it's easy to rip open. Sol slides the knife down the whole of Gamzee's torso and gropes until he feels the pointy ends of his ribcage. He plunges his hand into the busted tissue, grabbing around to find the jackpot, the round organ about the size of his fist, it's pumping dying out with every passing second. Sol yanks it out and the beating ceases completely before he has the chance to sniff it. There's no doubt this is his heart._

_ It's still warm as Sollux palms it in his hand and marvels at how tiny it is in retrospect. Gamzee falls backward to the ground, now a bloody, purple mess with a giant hole ripped open where his chest once was. Sol knows there is only one last thing to do to finish the deed. He uses what remains from his sharpest fangs and tears into the purple organ. It tastes like a round, squishy eggplant. Blood pours down his cheeks and adds to the acrylic canvas that already shows bright on his shirt. He wants to just retch and get it all out, but the courtship dance of hate is not over yet. He continues to take large bites out of the heart. His angry dignity gone, he has been worn down to a sobbing wreck. Finally, only a few tiny, vestigial veins remain. It's over. Karkat and Kanaya stare in wonder as Sollux descends to the ground with Terezi._

_ On the human tower, Jade's eyelids begin to flutter open, the turquoise light around her slowly fading off and catching the attention of her lifelong friend she never even met on normal consequences yet. Rose elbows Dirk alertly, "Mr. Strider, look!" Dirk looks back down at where their helpless friends lie. Behind his shades his eyes widen. Dave starts to stir and he lets out a weak groan. Though he too wears shades, Dirk can tell his eyes are open and for just a short moment they stare straight at each other._

_ This time I'll get you and send you straight to paradox hell, Slick thinks to himself as he aims Skaia at the baroness for the very last time. The flickering color shines brighter and brighter as the scepter powers up._

_ Using his last ounces of strength and energy, Sollux crawls toward Terezi, too exhausted to even sob correctly anymore. Mustard tears stream down his cheeks, mixing with all the blood as he snivels pathetically, "I hope you know this was a big mistake. Why did you get that huge bitch to heal your eyes? We were supposed to be blind together and you would teach me things. He'll be back you know. He can't die. When he does come back, I might not be able to stop him."_


	3. Chapter 3

Space remains at a dead pace, fixed in one point in time, yet everything happening at once on the outside. The one-room apartment remains as fancily emerald felt as ever and the Doc sits in his not-so-comfortable, cherry, wood chair quite comfortably. The cubic Skaian battlefield is no longer ablaze, but rather ruptured in it's entirety. Huge boils of lava and burnt soil crater each side of the massive chessboard and the pieces, all reduced to mere pawns in the end lie either dead or dying. The Doc is sure that the apartment building is literally and only half of what it used to be, floating around in space, waiting for he who is already here to arrive. The room isn't affected yet, and won't be for a while. The Doc is aware of tiny feet landing by the window.

"I presumed you would come at about this time," Scratch declares, not facing the clock.

"There's no other time I would get a chance to talk to you," Kyubey nearly slithers out of the shadows to stand before the Scratch. "I'm to understand you're expecting a few visitors?" The incubator cocks it's cat-like head as blankly as always. It's ringed and splayed, furry antennae fall like limp feathers on either side of it's face from it's ears.

"You could come earlier," Scratch slowly but still elegantly begins to unroll his sleeves. "Everything in time and space is set in place by forces that are already here. If you wanted this talk to be a long one, then you could have picked from many different time frames. But, alas, the opportunity for any of that is gone, so you may want to make this chat quick. As you said before, I'm expecting a few visitors."

"You know most likely why I chose to speak with you only now," Kyubey struts over the lime-green chair across from the Scratch and hops onto it. It then starts to spin the ravaged globe of Skaia around on it's axis with one paw, it's long, white tail swishing about with each swipe. "I know you won't try anything even if you were able to. Neither the past nor the future foretells of anymore sketchy actions you could possibly be able to perform in the state you will soon be in after all of your guests leave."

"It is true that my time in this universe is almost up and therefore, my work will be done in only a matter of hours," Scratch finally undoes his white coat, standing up and walking to the nearest evergreen coat hanger. He almost carelessly drops the coat to splay out among the numerous racks surrounding the stick of wood. "After a few short visits from some moderately important characters, my goal will be reached and you and your race will not have the power to stop what is already here."

The incubator circles around the surface of the chair cushion like a small dog, trying to find a comfortable spot on which to make itself cozy. It finally settles in on the center, it's bushy tail providing a convenient pillow for it to rest it's head on. All the while, it continues to stare up at the Doc with it's blank, unwavering, cat smile, "You're foolish if that is what you actually think, Doctor Scratch. We incubators have worked with and respected you from the time that you were created to be guardian of the planet Alternia as a sentient, omniscient being of vast intelligence. To have believed we made an error in our calculations and misinterpreted the depth of your knowledge would be quite a rare occurrence indeed. You see, Doctor Scratch, like you, we never make mistakes."

"Never is such an extreme word, don't you think? Even I have my limited knowledge in some areas before I am about to figure it out with the snap of a finger. I don't think you incubators should be so prude. This is perhaps the biggest mistake your race has made ever since ascending from the pocket monsters of planet Earth to become your own species. Time is a vast expanse, a line that goes on forever in both directions. It has no start nor does it have an apparent end. Do you not believe, that within this ever expanding record of the events of space, your existence is just as tiny as the respective pawns of the game your species has created? You mean to stop the Lord of Time, when in reality, he is, always has been, and will continue to be already here. The truth of the matter is, the incubator has only just grown to become it's own, godlike race, as opposed to it's initial form of the eeveelution Cubeon."

"Your words do indeed indicate the truth. Pokemon, as the humans call them, may not always be quite as intelligent as they are- though most will come infinitesimally close- they are all far more powerful and that type of knowledge complete with the near unlimited power of the Cubeon proved too much for the beings of Earth in any version of the game. Pocket Monster types are still being discovered by mankind and Cubeon was among one of the many undiscovered types as well as the only type of evolved form of Eevee that has yet to be identified by Pokemon professors."

"And what type would that be, incubator?"

"Doctor Scratch, how experienced are you in the field of magic, exactly?"

"Well.., just as experienced as any of your species would be, I presume. But as we both know, neither of us specializes in that study anyhow. The only way I could guess that that form of matter could ever possibly have presently or had in the past anything to do with the incubators is the Pocket Monster Celebi, originating from the Japanese region of Jhoto. That is the one species made entirely of an environmentally friendly, magic field. So how would that work into your little motives? Were you inspired to see it evolve into a familiar which you then put into your game as inspiration for the God Tiers? Please enlighten me. I'm very curious."

"Celebi may be a rare Pokemon, but it is not anything at all similar to the fabled Cubeon. Cubeon can use magic-type attacks, ones that no human has seen before, and beyond the possible comprehension of any domesticated Pocket Monster."

"Though what you describe is impressive, and definitely considerable given the suspension of reality that has been pushed beyond a conceivable limit due to various events, such a case seems very much like a domesticated one."

"That is because it is. Through a breakthrough of illegal experiments by a number of criminal organizations, mankind has been able to recreate a brand new eeveelution by combining all existing and known ones. The magic type is what sprung from all eight eeveelution types. So yes, Doctor Scratch. You are right. Cubeon is the only magic-type known to man solely because we were created by man. No doubt that there are more species out there related to this type, but they have not quite been discovered yet. But just give humanity some time. They'll figure it out sooner or later. It's too bad Earth is currently a little short on time at this point. The end for any universe is already here."

"Did you not just say that humans have not yet discovered plasma types in any timeline foreseen within the multiverse?"

"I wouldn't exactly consider a group such as Team Rocket or Galactic as anything even relatively human, Doctor Scratch."

"And these moves designed for your type. Were they invented by the organizations as well?"

"Mostly, no. You see, our powers developed over time after that. It wasn't long until we were able to discover witches and what would soon play into the mechanics of our little game. Cubeon were mostly discovered after an Eevee or a Pokemon Trainer owning an Eevee ran into a bout of despair. Once that despair grew strong enough to envelope that Pokemon or Pokemon trainer's world, it became increasingly likely for them to be lured into witch labyrinths. We Incubators that had mastered time-travelling by then were growing more and more weary of constantly contracting pre-pubescent girls to fight those witches. As the universe kept unfolding, the ratio of energy burned by the universe to energy gained by magical girls regardless of which galaxy they came from slowly became uneven. We were looking for a different, more reliable energy source, but before the Game, there were none that we could find. That isn't to say we didn't keep a few of the useful elements from our old method to work into our cultivating a new source of energy. When we finally got down to creating the Game, we converted old witch labyrinths into the planets for each of the players, and it was the magical girl outfits were what inspired the idea of themed outfits based on classic symbolism. Our Game turned out to be more powerful than grief seeds as we needn't create any energy if the goal of the gameplay was to create excess universes anyway. The witches that evolved Eevee into Cubeon hadn't even become familiars yet. The labyrinth had to have just been created at that very second to accompany a freshly integrated grief seed. Lucky trainers would find the seeds and escape the labyrinths before the familiars had any time to hatch. Soon enough after that was when humans realized that they could use the grief seeds to evolve their Eevee. Not long after that, Cubeon gained the knowledge to break away from their roots and become their own race on their own planet, just like the Clefairy."

"So you admit to having purposely travelled back before your time in order to bring about your own existence?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. We knew we had to set the whole cycle in the first place in order to avoid potentially devastating paradoxes that might get in the way of us obtaining our goal. As I've stated before, we are no different from you."

"It is true that I've done my fair share of scheming and playing chessmaster for various sessions with and without contacting the players within said sessions all for the purpose of following through with my master's plans. Part of my interactions with a select few Alternian inhabitants was simply so I could be born and create the planet that would in turn, from a few ingredients and an ectobiological code, create myself. Since then, I have worked diligently and cooperatively with you incubators, me in order to ensure the arrival of my master, and you to ensure the amount of entropy that will be enough to prolong the life of the multiverse. The confusion I am currently experiencing from your thesis in relation to comparing the similarities of the both of us is exactly what comes after the freeing of my master, which is already here. I have stated countless instances before that I do not wish to be untruthful to anyone. There is nothing humorous at all about lying. I made it clear time and time again what my master's agenda will be and is. It entirely contradicts what incubators strive to accomplish and therefore should be seen as a threat from your standpoint, not an alliance. How can we be so similar if our aspirations are so different?"

"Funny you would ask this question after all the time we've spent working together."

"You said it yourself this is the last chance we have to see each other. I had to bring it up now before it was too late. He's already here, you know."

"There's no doubt that your master is hell-bent on the destruction of everything around him. This wouldn't be the first time I'd have to deal with one of those and I assume it won't be the last. You bring up an interesting point. While incubators intend to use this game to create new universes for each one lost, the Lord of Time sees it as a challenge to see how much of reality that has been created that he can destroy. I know that it may seem strange that we look to be helping you in your endeavors, but to be honest, we are doing this for the benefit of the universe, not your counteractive plan. In reality, we ultimately expect to see you fail. Incubators like to look at the big picture. Though we did aid you in setting the events to which several sessions of the Game will be played in motion, we do not intend for Lord English to succeed in destroying the whole of reality at all."

"And that is what begins evidence of the tremendous flaws of your existence. You made a deal bent on reaching a goal that works ultimately against your favor. My reasons for this chess match in shifting my pawns toward playing the Game all work toward the results of my master's dormant soul, which has been through quite a hell within the body of my ectobiological father before being transferred into myself, emerging from along with killing me and wreaking havoc among all reality. He is a being of chaos, though much more dangerous than that which we have encountered before. The crazed soul benign in my body must let his eternity of rage out sometime. And when he does, reality will be doomed, and your plan of producing billions of prosperous universes to prolong the life of the multiverse will fail."

"We incubators didn't come this far for nothing. We aren't about to let a small disagreement with one of our associates ruin our plan of eternal life for the universe. Keep in mind that there are billions of us, and only one Doc Scratch. Once you are gone, you will be gone forever. Though you may think that things will work themselves out in your favor after that, then you are horribly mistaken. We will continue to have our many messengers distribute the Game to different planets. It may seem unfair to players, but this game is actually rarely defective. The instances of which we have seen with the trolls', humans', and cherubs' sessions were null, void, and dead respectively for a reason. They will eventually come into play with our grand scheme, and that is why their sessions were different."

"I'd love to debate this enticing argument with you more, Kyubey, but I'm afraid you must excuse me. It is just about time for you to leave. I have quite a few irons in the fire to take care of in preparation of my guests' arrival. So run along, little incubator. Just acknowledge that you've failed and enjoy the vast and intricate multiverse while it lasts. My first guest is just about to arrive and my last is already here."

"That's perfectly fine. This chair was too lumpy and needlessly complicated for my taste anyway. You really have no idea how nice it is to feel my paws hit solid ground again. I'll just go out the way I came. Farewell, Doctor Scratch. Oh, and Doctor? You may think that you've gotten what you wanted and everything is set, but the incubators will prevail in the long run, no matter how brutal a compromise that has to be made. We always do."


	4. Chapter 4

It is on a regular day right after the daily raising of the sun that Princess Celestia once again finds herself anxiously and constantly pacing the length of her throne hall that she shares with her sister. But this time she is not alone. The princess always has to somewhat cautiously turn her head to remind herself where the snake-like draconequus has moved as his body keeps encircling the ceiling and within the stained-glass windows. After a while, she decides she's had enough and finally snaps, "Discord, will you kindly stop hiding and stay in one place?"

After a few seconds of wondering whether or not to heed to this question, the chimera slowly descends to the floor, landing on his feet in front of Celestia, "Please, dear Tia. As if I'm the only one in the entirety of this room bent on the single goal of reaching every corner five-hundred times. Speaking of, remind me again of why you called me here."

"It's very important that you tell Princess Twilight Sparkle and her colleagues what you've been hiding from them this whole time," the princess states for about the fourth time.

"I'm not sure they're ready to hear all that quite yet," Discord says hesitantly. "There are good reasons that I kept what I know from you all this time. That's why they are secrets. I wouldn't dare spill them just because the princess of the sun told me to. Bear in mind that I have been to worlds far from outside the borders of Equestria. I'm an outlaw. There are…_things _out there that want me dead. Many things. There's no doubt in my mind that if I let slip even one word of my secret so that your little ponies know, someone else out there will also want to know. I'm sorry, princess, but this isn't something I can just do on your command, even if you threaten to turn me back to stone for another thousand years, or worse."

"Listen," Celestia comes closer to the draconequus and places a hoof upon his shoulder in an attempt at a gesture of comfort, but only comes off a bit awkward. "You know this is for the best. I understand your discomfort at revealing a secret you've been holding back for long over a thousand years, though I wouldn't know at all the anguish it must feel to hold your words for that long, but I wouldn't be asking this of you if it were not urgent. Please, if I am not asking you as your princess, then I am asking you as your friend. Do it for me and Luna. Do it for the fate of Equestria. Do it for Fluttershy and all of them!" Discord still does not meet her gaze, unsure of what he should do. "You better make up your mind soon. The princess should be here any minute."

"Oh joy, more princesses," Discord mutters almost bitterly. "Exactly what I need."

As if on queue, there is a small knock on the medium, brown doors to the balcony, "Princess? We're here." Princess Celestia glides down the hall to the doors with Discord in towe.

She opens the door that lets in even more sunlight and shows the six ponies and one dragon in front of her with a welcoming smile, "Come in, my little ponies. There is much to discuss." Discord inwardly makes a face. All seven guests gather inside the vast throne room.

Princess Twilight observes the room closely as she always does whenever she comes here. Although she is a frequent visitor to Canterlot and its castle, she still needs a moment to take in its beauty every time she visits. Though the doors have closed, the freshly-raised sun shines brightly through all of the prophetic, stained-glass windows and reflects onto the red carpet that runs along the floor of the hallway. The sunlight, colored by each window, then mixes with the colors in the other windows.

Applejack notices her friend's silence and offers to speak first, "So, what in the hay are we doing here exactly?" Discord and Celestia turn to face the orange pony.

Spike near frantically grabs Applejack's leg and whispers in her ear with wide eyes, "Now you've done it! You don't just up and tell Princess Celestia that her reasons don't amount to you!"

"I mean, don't get me wrong," Applejack begins to explain. "I know you must have to talk to us about something important, but this just isn't the best time for us to be away from our families. I've got a whole lot more work to do on the farm, so I'd appreciate it, now that we're your official cohorts, not students, if you two would just make it quick…" She pauses. "But only if it's convenient for you."

After a quick pause and a shake of the head from Discord, Celestia responds, "I understand your dilemma, but this can't wait. There is information that has been withheld from us for much too long and bad things could happen if we don't discuss it now. It's important that we cover everything, so I suggest you all listen closely."

"Yes, Princess," Twilight walks up to Celestia with the rest behind her. "We're prepared to listen to whatever you have to say."

At that, despite all the pressure on him to do the unspeakable, Discord can't help but chuckle a little. The sun princess holds a look of surprised confusion on her face, and for a short moment, Twilight thinks she sees the faintest hint of blush. Discord's laughter only grows stronger as time goes on and nobody says anything. The guests stand awkwardly, unable to speak. After a while, Pinkie also begins to laugh, though she doesn't understand why. Any chance to laugh is a good enough reason for her. "Hey! What's all this fooling around about?" Rainbow Dash exasperatedly hoists herself off of the velvet carpet and into the air.

Celestia looks truly embarrassed by this point. She faces her curious guests awaiting an explanation, "Well, uh, you see.., I'm not the one that will be discussing these things with you. It's going to be Discord."

"WHAT!" all seven guests gasp in shock. Discord? Why Discord? He's no good at staying on topic, let alone discussing anything.

"Your Highness," Rarity bows. "There is no doubt that this matter that you have called us here by is of drastic importance, but are you quite sure that-"

"I am entirely sure," the princess still somehow is able to show politeness while cutting the unicorn off. "We need to find out exactly what Discord's problem is and if there is a way we can find a solution before it affects Equestria."

"What is this danger of unlimited importance that will destroy Equestria?" the pink pony stands on her hind legs, her thick curls bouncing up and down as her body shakes with hyperactive energy. "Tell us where they are, Discord! We'll take them down!" She makes punching movements with her hooves in the air.

"I think that if we give him a chance, Discord could be a fantastic speaker," Fluttershy bows her head and pokes out her hoof timidly to make a point.

"Well I wouldn't trust what he says one bit!" Rainbow stubbornly crosses her hooves. "He may be our friend, but we still don't know for sure whether or not he's tricking us. This could just be another one of his immature games."

"Well I hardly think I'd be able to speak one word with all you little ponies blabbering away!" Discord snaps, his voiced risen above normal proportions. Everypony turns their head to stare at the draconequus expectantly. There is a brief moment of silence.

"…Well?" Applejack finally pipes up to break the silence. Discord scans over the group of Equestrians, for once deep in thought.

"Go ahead Discord," Celestia eggs on encouragingly. "Tell them what you know." The other seven continue to wait on him, their eyes wide and curious. What could Discord possibly have to say to them that would bear any importance?

"I suppose I should apologize to everypony," the draconaquus awkwardly starts out. "I haven't exactly been the most honest with any of my friends. Not even the princesses."

Rainbow rolls her eyes, "As if we needed to be told to know that." A lightning bolt shoots right passed her flank as the words escape her mouth and barely scathe the tip of her multicolored tail. When she looks back up in shock, Discord stares her down with unusually serious eyes.

Applejack quickly nudges her, her voice low, "I think you should keep your comments to a minimum in this conversation." Rainbow does a zipping motion across her lips with her hoof the way Pinkie always does.

Discord shoots her one last glare before continuing, "You see, my little ponies, I am not what I seem to be." They look at him bewilderedly. This is exactly what they thought when they first met him. Now that he is royalty, he is known all over Equestria for the different forms he can take and tricks he can pull. Though nopony can predict what his next trick will hold, neither will they be surprised. This they already know. "I'm not even from this world." This is a bit harder to believe. If Discord was conscious all that time from within his stone prison, how could he have been banished completely into another world? "I have been taking the form of what looks to be a draconequus for millennia now. I am actually part of a godlike race with no particular form of it's own called the Q. We are meant to patrol paradox space and pull strings where strings are in need of pulling. Unfortunately, not all of us wanted to do that. Instead, some Q individuals like me would take the form of whatever type of species a cluster of groups may be familiar with. When I discovered Equestria, I saw many opportunities to mess with your civilization instead of help you." He turns his glance to Princess Twilight. "You may be familiar with the parallel world of humans. Like you, Twilight, I've been a human many times before, but when I saw that this world is dominated by candy-colored ponies, I couldn't just use such a boring mold. So I watched your group for a whole year after you all became wielders of the elements. I figured out exactly what monsters that antagonized Ponyville and tried to wrong you within that year. I then created the body by which you see me as I speak, with all of those monsters rolled into one."

"Wait a minute," Applejack raises her voice again. "So you're saying that you watched us for a whole year before we even met you? And we didn't know it!"

Discord nods, "That is exactly what I'm saying."

"That doesn't make any sense, though!" Twilight says, thoroughly confused. "How could you have seen us that year if you had been frozen in stone for more than a thousand years before that?"

"I told you that my real species is a race of Gods. We have powers beyond even the princesses' contemplation. That includes being unstuck in time. Whilst first studying your world, I got a little carried away." Discord glances at Celestia. "You all know quite enough about that. I saw myself as much more powerful than anypony, dragon, or griffon else- which is quite true- and therefore I was better than their friendship. So I decided to stay and rule Equestria for a while."

Fluttershy looks confused and a bit betrayed. Why did Discord never tell them he has a family that misses him back at his home, "But, Discord, if you had an obligation to fulfill here in Equestria, than why did you not bring it back to your kin who love you and must really miss you?"

Discord shakes his head nonchalantly, "My species sent me on a mission, and they won't want me back until it's over with. I may have learned the ways of your society, but I'm still not through teaching Equestria about the magic of friendship."

Again, the team is taken aback. Friendship? If anyone needs to be taught about friendship and magic after all this time, it's the draconequus himself. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" Rainbow exclaims. "How can you be teaching us about friendship if you barely know about what it is to be a loyal friend yourself?"

"Rainbow Dash does have a point," Rarity points out. "If I'm not to be mistaken, Discord, you've made quite a lot of mistakes in your stay here that would not exactly be considered worthy of others' friendship."

Discord sighs, "I know, I know. I understand what you're all thinking. I made my observations of this world very quickly and then after that, I made it my kingdom. I soon overstayed my welcome with what some ponies other than me may call…tyranny. As Princess Twilight observed, they did not like the way I ran things at all and were not slow to imprison me in that disgusting rock and then display me as an artifact in their museum of equestrian history. Even then I was conscious and fully aware at first of the many ponies that visited the labyrinth of statues throughout the eras. I could even make my calculations from inside my cell of stone, not that I had any real need to, but my powers were suppressed, so you can imagine how bored I was in that dingy, old thing. I was briefly able to escape when your little fillies unintentionally and foolishly but thankfully broke me out. Unfortunately I was placed right back within a matter of a few days thanks to the new owners of the elements of harmony. Of course, being unstuck in time, I already knew about all of you as the new wielders of the elements and took the form of the trials and tribulations you all faced during the first year of meeting Princess Twilight. That way I would be your worst nightmare." He gives a pointed look to Fluttershy. "When you all brought me back, Tia told me to lay low and not point out that messing around wasn't all that I wanted to do…even though it sort of was. You see, I'm not the only one that has been keeping secrets." He then turns his head from the yellow pegasus to shoot an accusatory glare at the sun princess.

The protectors of the elements all look at each other in bewilderment before Rainbow shoots around the draconequus's head in a furious swirl of colors, "Yeah right! Like Princess Celestia and Luna would ever lie to us!" She comes to an abrupt stop right in front of Discord's abnormal, grey, horned face. "I'll bet you just want her to look bad so that we'll trust you to make a better decision that you won't."

Suddenly, a pink, glittering field of light translucently encases the brash, young pegasus and she stops moving. Her body, frozen in place, is then gently pulled down to the ground. The pink magic dissolves and Rainbow shakes her head out of her sudden daze but stays on the ground. Discord looks, surprised to see the pink magic around Princess Twilight's horn, instead, "That's enough, Rainbow Dash. I won't have you acting immature in the presence of the princess of the sun." Rainbow seems to have been convinced before the purple princess even started talking. Twilight then turns to the other five. "The same goes for all of you. We will all listen to Discord's story as Celestia has ordered us to, no matter how outlandish you may think it will get." She glances at the draconequus. "There will be no more rude intervening and asking of pointless questions. If there is something you think needs to be cleared, do no interrupt Discord. Just wait until the best chance to ask. Discord, you may continue."

Discord studies Twilight thoughtfully before following her orders, "Thank you, Princess. So…as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted…" Rainbow snorts before Applejack harshly jabs her in the ribs. "…Anyway, you all managed to take me down, but the plan wasn't over yet. I still had not achieved what my species had wanted me to achieve in Equestria. Celestia and Luna's orders were specifically to stay dormant as stone. She told me that she still had use for my powers as she told you. At least, that's the excuse she made up to get you all to use the elements to resurrect me." All the ponies and Spike turn their heads to the sun princess, confused expressions painted vividly across each one's face. It takes all that Celestia has to not look away or speak out against them. "Our plan then was to act as if I was still hay bent on doing whatever I wanted. (I still was, but I had to go along with the plan if things were to work out in everyone's favor.) But we all knew that you seven are a smart bunch and would know something was up if I just happened to have turned 'good' all of a sudden. So, the princesses pushed me to make friends with Fluttershy first and gain her trust." Everypony's eyes widen at this news as Discord continues to go on. "Then, slowly and gradually, through Fluttershy's persuasion, I would become fully integrated with all of you. Actually, it seems that I am still trying to integrate myself. After the princesses had me stage that betrayal with Lord Tirek in order to teach all of you about friendship and magic, I still don't get a spot in your puny castle." Discord presses his lion's claw teasingly on top of Twilight's head. "Oh well. I guess you guys still don't trust me even after all this time. Can't say I blame you. I'll just have to live with having a pretty high spot in Celestia and Luna's ginormous castle."

There is a pause after the draconequus stops for a moment to take a long breath. Most of the seven guests are completely speechless. They stare at each other, wide-eyed. Pinkie Pie and Rarity can't seem to take their gazes off of princess Celestia. The white horse with the flowing, pastel, rainbow mane has her lavender gaze on princess Twilight, intent on learning exactly how her former pupil and now fellow princess will react. How could the princesses lie to them like that after serving, admiring, and trusting them for years. Tirek had total control over Equestria for a short time. He had the potential to steal the power of the four princesses away from princess Twilight and almost did. What would have happened if the princesses' and Discord's plan failed and he managed to succeed? Did they have a backup plan in case things went wrong? Would Tirek be ruler of Equestria if they had failed? Why did they have that much faith that Twilight and her friends would succeed? Did they even care what happened to Equestria? Was teaching the princess about friendship more important than the fate of everypony else? What other problems that Twilight and her cohorts faced were they behind? "So…Discord..?" Twilight wonders quietly without meeting his face.

"Yes, Twilight?" Discord responds just as quietly.

"Princess Luna..," she mutters quietly. "She's in on it too?" Discord nods. It's one of the few tender moments in which he shows the least bit of sympathy. Against her better judgment, Twilight's voice begins to crack. "So…so…what about you then, Celestia?" She looks up at the sun princess, eyes filled to the brim with welling tears. "Is it true? Did you lie to us? Did you put Equestria at risk in the hooves of six young ponies?" Her voice is filled with so much betrayal that it hurts the pit of Celestia's stomach. The other six also stare up at her with equally dreading expressions, awaiting her answer.

Celestia takes a step back, silent for a moment. Discord stays silent for the time being, knowing this is a question for the princess to answer. Celestia finally closes her eyes. She has to tell the truth, just as Discord has. Light shines from the window and sparkles off her wavy mane as she comes clean, "It is true that my sister and I made a plan with Discord after freeing him from his stone prison. We struck a deal with him to give him back his freedom in exchange that he'd use his powers to teach you all about the magic of friendship whenever I could not. All we wanted was for you to become the guardians that you were meant to be in order to protect Equestria from the ones that do not know the friendship's value like Tirek. Everything we've done was to help you all grow because that is what friendship is all about. I know you will be a great princess, Twilight, just like Luna and Cadence." Though the white horse keeps her posture and dignity, she gazes at the purple alicorn with a face that begs forgiveness. What else is Twilight to do? "A daunting task is ahead, and you are going to need each other as friends more than ever now. Not only is Equestria in danger, but also the lands beyond, the realm of the humans where Sunset Shimmer now lives, and many more worlds that will need your help to survive." Her face then turns serious. "I need to know, so tell me honestly. Are you prepared for the amount of responsibility that will be thrown your way, as royalty of Equestria?"

Everypony stares blankly up at the princess, unsure of what to think or do. What daunting task lies ahead for them that only they and they alone will come into contact with? Can they still trust the princess even after finding out that she was keeping secrets from them for years? Surely it must be for the greater good. After Twilight is silent for a while, Applejack steps up, "Uh, I'm not one-hundred percent sure what we'll be responsible for. But I think I speak for everypony here when I say that, no matter what the challenge, we will always be up for it if it's for the good of Equestria." The orange pony looks behind her to her friends to make sure they'll back her up. They all nod in certainty.

Celestia smiles, and so does Discord if not amused by Celestia having to swallow her pride, "I'm glad to hear it. Finally we can get down to business. I'll go wake up Luna. We'll need her. Discord, fill them in on what's going on." With that, the princess turns and walks down the hall and disappears through the big, red doors.

"Alright, everypony," Discord claps his paws together, his usual mischievousness back. "You're all rainbowfied royalty now, so that means that even those of you without unicorn magic have loads more power than you did back when you first received the elements of harmony. Now all we have to do is unlock that power so that it is accessible to you on command…" Discord suddenly pauses. Something is wrong. Something is terribly, terribly wrong. Everypony seems to have his undivided attention except for one certain pegasus that the draconequus cares about the most. He glides down to her, forgetting the princess's instructions for only a moment. "Fluttershy." His voice is gentle. "Is there a problem?"

Fluttershy looks up at him, her wide, teal eyes brimming with tears, "Of course there's a problem you dumb, fat liar! You played us! I thought you were being completely open with me…I thought- I thought I was your best friend."

Discord wants so much to ease her pain, but he can't lie to her any longer. He embraces her lithe body in his short, stubby arms, "Fluttershy, you are a good friend. That much is true. I know that you will do anything for those close to you. I may have been sketchy around you, but I am genuine when I say that you always teach me new things about friendship. You have no idea how many of our goals would have never been reached without the help from you and your friends. Now is time to be a part of something bigger. You're royalty now. What we are doing is on a scale too grand for any of us to comprehend. We must be strong for everyone. Each of us has an important job to do, and there is no use in moping about. Get up on your feet, Fluttershy. I ask you this as your friend. It's time to get to work." He strokes her back comfortingly. The yellow pegasus sniffs and gazes up at him, her eyes still extremely bleary. She wipes her large eyes with one hoof and clears up her face into a triumphant smile. She nods confidently at Discord and then at all her colleagues. Now is the time for saving the world.

"Alright, Discord," Twilight gives him the signal. "What's the plan?"

"Oh, story time's not over yet princess," Discord almost sneers. "There is still much you have to know about the history of your elders before you can begin playing this game."

Rainbow Dash perks her wide-eyed head up again, "Game? What game? Nopony said anything about any game up until now!"

The draconequus raises a clawed finger of his lion paw, "Now now, Rainbow Dash. All will be revealed in good time."

He thinks he hears Rarity mutter something along the lines of, "Well you sure are taking your sweet time to reveal it," as Rainbow slowly flaps back down beside her but he chooses to ignore it.

Instead, he continues, "You see, my little ponies, in order to save the multiverse from ultimate destruction, my race made a deal or "contract" with another godlike race called the incubators. You'll learn more about them and their history as you advance on your universe-saving quest. We met to solve a conflict that neither species could solve alone. A being so powerful that he could destroy the whole of reality with his mere cries was and still is on the loose."

"That's nothing!" Dash interrupts yet again. "I could destroy the fabric of time and space with my sonic rainbooms if I wanted to!" Everyone glares at the rainbow mare, causing her to grin sheepishly and eat her words.

Discord just smiles eerily, "That is exactly why you are such an important part of the equation, Rainbow Dash." He pets her a bit more roughly than he did Fluttershy, this time with his chicken finger. Instead of looking aggravated this time though, Rainbow's expression contorts into one of pure surprise. She is speechless, her eyes wide in shock and her body unable to move or speak as the draconequus strokes her ratty mane. "This creature needs not perform a sonic rainboom in order to rip the fabric of reality. He simply does it because he wants to."

"Do you expect us to be able to stop someone like that?" Applejack inquires, eyebrow raised. "What the hay are we going to do, have Rainbow Dash sonic rainboom and hope it only sucks him in?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Discord dismisses her with a wave of his chicken hand. "Besides, what happened to being able to solve anything with the power of friendship?"

"I think she may have a point, actually," Rarity walks up beside her orange friend. "I wouldn't want to just blindly stumble into a life or death situation that could possibly mean hurting my friends."

"Oh don't worry," Discord says. "You'll have help. You just have to get started first. Anyway, as I was saying, the incubators had created a game that life forms all across the universe could play to counter the lord of time's continued rampage on the whole of reality. The object of this game is to create more universes so that when Lord English destroys one, there will be plenty more. The deal is that the incubators would help us save paradox space by having us distribute the game, named differently for each species, on every planet in every universe that plays it. That is my original mission when I was assigned to go to Equestria. Now that I see that you six are the most fit for the role, you are the group that will play Sqube to save your world, or rather, in your world, I believe it is called Squin." The six ponies look at each other. All of them think the same thing. Playing this game is a big responsibility. They will be saving the world! But as they each look into each others' wide and expressive eyes, they know that if they work together for the good of Equestria, they can accomplish anything.

Just then, the big, red doors at the end of the hall open again, casting a red glow around the floor and ceiling, and reveal Princess Celestia with Luna, "So, Discord, did you brief them on what we talked about?"

"Yep, I just finished," the draconequus steps back to let the light and dark princesses by to get to the seven guests.

"So then," Luna looks around at her guests, her still heavy with sleep. This is completely against her regular schedule. "I'm guessing you know now what you have to do?"

Twilight steps up to represent her Ponyville friends, her dark main shining against the light pouring through the window, "Yes, princess. We're ready for anything. Just say the word."

"You're sure you're ready?" Celestia asks, her eyes betraying the faintest trace of worry. All seven nod in unison. "Alright then. You can all return home. That is where you'll be starting your game. The three of us will occasionally come in to assist where assistance is needed, but it will ultimately be each of you individually that find help yourselves along the way. Luna and I will transport the equipment you need to each of you in your home as they are the places you will start. Farewell, my little ponies. Good luck on your quest." The sun princess then turns around and begins to stalk back down the hall toward the doors.

"Princess Celestia, wait!" Twilight calls out, her hoof in the air in desperation. "We still don't know anything about this game!"

"You'll figure it out on your own," Luna puts a hoof on the younger princess's shoulder, her sparkly, blue mane weighed down by all the responsibility and lack of sleep. "The discovery begins tomorrow morning. Discord, will you do the honors? Discord nods and snaps his fingers and before any of the guests can say anything, with a flash of light, they disappear from Canterlot. At the same time that the guests' images cease to exist within Canterlot, the big, red doors at the end of the hall close behind Celestia, leaving Discord and Luna alone in the hallway. "Did you brief them on their assignment?"

"I did," the draconequus replies slowly.

"But you kept what we agreed not to tell them until they're ready to yourself, right?" Luna pries.

"Of course I did," Discord replies again, this time not meeting the dark horse's eyes. "Of course they're not ready yet, to know that after they start the game, Equestria will be destroyed."


End file.
